How to Fake it Till You Make It

Self confidence is an issue many of us face and it can take YEARS for someone to finally accept and be proud of who they are. Something I wish I knew earlier on in life is the power of faking it. Sometimes when you tell yourself something over and over again, you will soon believe it, and this was definitely the case for me.

Growing up I hated how I looked. I was the girl who always stuck out like a sore thumb. I had firey red hair, freckles, nearly translucent eyebrow hair and lashes, severe acne, and honestly the list could go on about my past insecurities... It even got to the point where I would BEG my mom for skin lightening lotion just to get rid of my freckles...... Not looking like the "typical" girl was something I always struggled with. I constantly would compare myself to the other girls in my class and think "why don't I look like that?","Why don't boys like me?"

People would always compliment me on my hair and my skin WISHING they had what I had and I would just brush them off- Not believing a word they would say because I hated the reflection I would see in the mirror simply because I didn't look like the next girl.

Soon enough, I would start to see girls try to emulate my hair color with box dye, and would see girls start to draw on faux freckles.... and so I really took another look at myself again and started to think"huh... they want what I already have." I completely changed my mindset and started to think "no one looks like me... that's actually kind of neat." And this is how my life started to shift.

It still took me so many years to finally accept myself for who I was and the root of my change truly was the change in perception of myself, and so I started to play up my features! I tried to create the best version of myself- still keeping the things about me that everyone admired the same (this took a LOT of practice- s/out to the Makeup artists I would learn from on Youtube, LOL). Even though I still wished I looked like the girls in my class or on social media, I would pretend to seem so comfortable in my skin. I would tell myself over and over again how unique I was. I would start telling myself how great my personality was and all the little things I never cared to dig deep into.

My confidence quickly started to grow. I stopped caring so much about all the little imperfections because I told myself time and time again that there would be someone out there that would think I was perfect and would think I was perfect for them. The ~vibes~ I started to put out there were my care free personality, and just focused on my inner self. Telling myself over and over again this really gave me the confidence I have today. I wasn't always like this, it took many years to develop, but faking it till you make it is something I am forever thankful for. This shift in mentality has made me into the woman I am today and is something I always share with people when they are struggling with their self confidence.

Moral of the Story: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT! If you keep telling yourself and believing in something, anything, you will soon believe it too... I promise you!!

Best,

Matilda D'Orlando